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Statement by the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellows on the unrest in Zimbabwe17th January 2019

The Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellows of the African Leadership Institute are a diverse group of civic, political and business leaders from 40 African countries, who are concerned with the governance and development of the African continent. We, the Tutu Fellows, are alarmed by the growing unrest in Zimbabwe and, most worryingly, by the Zimbabwean government’s reaction to it. The unrest by ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe is in response to a hike in the fuel price in Zimbabwe, which is now the most expensive in the region.

2016 Tutu Fellow, Tshepo Ditshego, has been appointed as the CEO of Fundi, a fintech group across South Africa and Zimbabwe that offers technology services related to education like educational loans, bursary management and cashless payment solutions for schools.

A play on the African word 'fundi', which means a learned person and the association with funding, Fundi is a leading education finance organisation in Southern Africa. Access to finance to fund an education is a barrier many potential students face.

Archbishop Tutu Fellowship Certificates were awarded to the 2018 Tutu Fellows at an exuberant celebratory event kindly hosted by Lord Hacking at his home in London at the end of an intensive but very rewarding 10-day workshop at Oxford University and in London. Old favourites continued to be amongst the highlights of the week – conducting choristers in Exeter College chapel, Eddie Obeng’s aliens, good kings/queens, warriors and medicine women in Mythodrama’s Henry V, cooking lunch with Caryn and Ros, dining in the House of Lords after a personal conducted tour of the Houses of Parliament, and Andrew Feinstein’s amazing stories of corruption in the global arms trade.

The first workshop of the 2017 Tutu Leadership Fellowship Programme was held at Mont Fleur Conference Centre from the 22nd to the 29th of April. The 26 Fellowship candidates, selected from more than 300 nominees, were from 11 African countries such as Equitorial Guinea, Sierra Leone and Egypt.

The intensive leadership learning activities at the retreat in the Stellenbosch mountains provided space for introspection and time for friendships to develop among the cohort. This will serve them in good stead when they return home, ready to tackle and make a difference in the challenges of leadership in Africa.

The Financial Times Magazine starts their list like this: From activists to a Premier League footballer . . . The FT’s Africa team picks the continent’s rising stars. The three Tutu Fellows included on the list of 25 are: Amy Jadesimi, Robtel Neajai Pailey, and Lai Yahaya. Lai is a 2009 Fellow, Robtel was the following year, and Amy is a 2012 Fellow. They are among stirling company.

We, the Archbishop Tutu Fellows, unequivocally condemn the Afrophobic violence that has erupted in different places in South Africa. We condemn these episodes of violence as much as we condemn the violence experienced by the students and people of Garissa, Kenya; as much as we condemn the violent abduction of the girls in Chibok, Nigeria over a year ago; as much as we condemn war-related rape towards women in different war-torn parts of Africa; and as much as we condemn the violence into which young children are forced to become child soldiers.

The African Leadership Institute (AFLI) is proud to announce the 2015 intake of selected candidates for the prestigious Tutu Leadership Fellowship. Among more than 250 nominees from 32 African countries, 23 of Africa’s highest potential young leaders were selected to take part in the programme. Spanning more than 15 industries, representing 10 African countries, and ranging from 29 to 40 years of age, the selected candidates demonstrate the wealth and breadth of leadership talent that exists in Africa’s youth.

An entrepreneur who left his career in investment and private banking, Sam Mensah has gone on to create Kisua.com - an international e-tailer of contemporary African fashions and accessories for women. He shares his journey as a businessman following a passion and lessons learned as a leader taking an African brand global: "It's one thing to have an 'a-ha' moment, but it's quite another thing to give up the comfort of a good job." His advice: get comfortable with the possibility of failure.

James Mwangi is a Partner with Dalberg Global Development Advisors and the Executive Director of the Dalberg Group, a collection of impact-driven businesses that seek to champion inclusive and sustainable growth around the world. James founded and built up Dalberg’s presence in Africa, beginning with the Johannesburg office in 2007, Nairobi in 2008, and Dakar in 2009, and served as Global Managing Partner from 2010 to 2014.

Aidan Eyakuze, an economist, is a founding director of Serengeti Advisers Limited, a Tanzania-based regional advisory firm in economic and public policy, corporate finance and media analysis. He nurtures a keen intellectual and professional interest in economic policy, financial markets and emerging trends in information and communications technologies and their impact on society. He is also the Associate Regional Director of the Society for International Development (SID).

A dedicated medical doctor, Cephas Chikanda has served in various capacities in both private and public sector organisations, and has worked extensively in the area of HIV/AIDS and development, human rights and health.

Isaac Kwaku Fokuo Jr is CEO of the African Leadership Network and the Co--Founder of the Sino--Africa Center of Excellence, an initiative focused on the exchange of ideas and experiences between China and Africa.

Chetan Jeeva joined Investec in 2006 as a deal maker in the Structured and Leveraged Finance team responsible for originating and executing large leveraged and structured finance transactions primarily in South Africa. He has been involved in a number of landmark transactions in the SA Private Equity space. Prior to this, Chetan spent a year in Private Equity with RMB Corvest / Safika Investments and in development finance at the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa for a period of five years. Chetan completed his articles with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Dr Tariro Makadzange is an infectious disease physician scientist. Her research training and career have focused on infectious diseases (primarily HIV infection and related opportunistic infections). Her current work focuses on understanding the immune correlates of HIV disease progression in perinatally infected children and adolescents, as well as the immunopathogenesis of cryptococcal disease in HIV infected adults.